Reacting to the US missile attacks on his members, the leader of the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra has issued an audio statement, “Advice to Muslims and Warning to Infidels“.
On Tuesday, the first day of its aerial intervention, the US killed more than 60 Jabhat al-Nusra members and at least 14 civilians in attacks on two locations in Idlib and Aleppo Provinces.
Abu Mohammad al-Joulani said that the US sought from the start of the Syrian uprising in March 2011 to “abort” the campaign, including the designation of Jabhat al-Nusra as a terrorist organization and the creation of the opposition Syrian National Coalition — “Western agents applying the Western agenda”.
Claiming the fragility of the rulers of the region — “a Middle East of earthquakes and volcanos”,with Sunni Muslims under the dominance of “Persians and Jews” — al-Joulani called for the ascendancy of “the Islam of jihad, the Islam of Mohammad”.
Speaking specifically about Syria, the Jabhat al-Nusra leader said that if the West stopped its “aggression” against Muslims, “You’ll be safe from jihadists.”
But he called on all Syrians to recognize that “the airstrikes are meant to suppress your effort and uprising and to return you to Assad’s lap”.
Al-Joulani concluded his appeal for a renewed effort by the insurgency and opposition with Jabhat al-Nusra: “Don’t let the crimes of the Islamic State and its aggression push you towards the West.”
(Hat tip to Hassan Hassan)